Hi all!

I’ve noticed recently in threads everyone is asking “what has worked” for the individual who has lost weight. I decided to state what has worked for me. Please comment on what has worked for you!

-weighing myself everyday. I was very nervous to do this because I didn’t want to have disordered behavior. However, I was told to weigh myself daily and average the weights each week. This helped me realize I was actually losing weight on average. I would only recommend this if you think you can manage it without becoming obsessive. I think I actually became less obsessive with daily weigh-ins because if I got one bad number then I was able to shrug it off.

->100 g of protein per day. This was really hard at first. I used to eat like 40 g of protein a day. But when my meals became protein and veggies with very little carbs I noticed the weight dropped more quickly.

-walking. I wish I could do more intense exercise but right now with the baby, walking is the easiest form of exercise because I can do it when it’s just the two of us

-having 1-2 maintenance days a week and 1-2 days a month where I just go out and enjoy my meals. This helps me feel like everything is more sustainable

-eating very little processed foods. This was sooooo hard for me. But even dropping protein/granola bars for like apples and almond butter has helped.

-reminding myself I have eaten enough. My goal caloric intake is 1500-1600 per day. If I’m still hungry at the end of the day i might have a small snack (depending on how hangry I am). But I also remind myself that I have eaten enough and I’m not starving. This helped get my ghrelin and leptin levels under control and I started to feel much more satiated. I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re concerned for disordered behavior. It’s a very fine line between being a little hungry and intentionally starving yourself. I was initially worried that i was going too far. Fortunately, it only took me 2-3 days for my hunger hormones to sort themselves out. I wish I would’ve more slowly created my deficit. I think this also would’ve helped control those hormones without feeling overly hungry.

-SLEEP. Getting more sleep helped a ton. A dietitian once told me it’s very hard to lose weight if you’re not getting sleep because it increases your cortisol levels which makes you retain weight

-educating myself on nutrition and the physiology of weight loss. If I understand why and how something works, I tend to have a lot more follow through.

-https://therealfooddietitians.com This website has some great meals!

-forcing myself to eat breakfast. I used to never eat breakfast because I didn’t feel hungry. Now it’s my highest calorie meal of the day. I think it helps control my hunger throughout the day.

-working on positive body image. I do not want to have an ED because I’ve seen what it’s done to some of my friends. Even when I don’t love my body, I try to at least accept where it is right now.

What has worked for you???